“She is Spherical, like a Globe”: Mapping the Theatre, Mapping the Body

Abstract

I was directing a scene from Antony and Cleopatra in Colorado a number of years ago, and I had a tremendously difficult time with a small but significant part of the Messenger. As you will recall he returns to Alexandria from Rome and has the unenviable task of telling Cleopatra that Antony is married. When he delivers the bad news she becomes furious and gives him the ‘Spartan messenger' treatment by beating him up. The problem was that however much I berated or cajoled him, the actor would simply stub his cigarette out on the wings, slouch onto stage and deliver his lines in a rather monotonous manner: “Madam, he's married to Octavia” (2.5.60).

Shakespeare in Southern Africa Vol. 16 2004: pp. 15-28